Long time no see
by RiverCookie
Summary: What happens when you're not playing the game?


It'd been a while since I'd touched my Pokemon Platinum game.

Pokemon Platinum was the first game from the main series of Pokemon that I'd obtained. I spent a good while on it, filling out entries in the Pokedex, beating Gym Leaders, training my Pokemon, and plodding my way through the game.

After I'd beaten the game, though, I got a bit bored. I had a fair amount of good Pokemon, filled out as much of the Pokedex that I could without trading or surfing around in a pond for two hours, and barreled through the Elite Four several times already. I'm not really one for finishing everything possible in a game, so I went off to try some other games.

Then I got some other Pokemon games, like SoulSilver and Black, and I started thinking about Platinum again. There was probably more stuff that I could be doing in that game…

So, after digging through my bag of DS games, I pulled out that little card, stuck it into my DS, and turned the power on.

I sat there watching the opening and listening to the music. It'd been a while since I'd watched that, hadn't it?

When the Giratina animation came up, though, I noticed something strange. My volume was turned up, but there wasn't any sound coming from the speakers. I take pretty good care of my DS, and I don't like the thought of it breaking, so I was worried. When I pressed A, though, Giratina's cry came through the speakers just fine. Maybe it was just a glitch, I told myself. Maybe I'd have to ask around the internet about that.

Then another odd thing appeared. On the main menu, the other boxes regarding making a new game or WiFi configuration or something were gone. The only box left was "Continue", and it didn't have any information in it, like it usually would. Just the word "Continue".

I thought briefly about turning the DS off at that point. This couldn't be good, this couldn't be good…Alas, I selected it and continued.

The Journal appeared, as it would after a long session of not playing. It wasn't the bright pink it should've been, it was a dull, faded fleshy color, with frayed edges. The letters on that page spelled out "WHY". The other pages were blank.

I exited the Journal, feeling rather anxious. What happened while I was gone?

The black dissipated to show a rather foggy location with rocks scattered around. At the top of the screen was a dark abyss. A box appeared in the corner, displaying the location, "Turnback Cave". Since when was I in Turnback Cave? Other than to find the Griseous Orb? And when did it look like this?

The little sprite of my character had its back to me. It looked different, somehow. Faded. The music was somewhat muted as well.

I tried moving around, but my character stayed put. The menu opened, though. The Pokedex, Options, and Save options were gone.

My Pokemon were gone.

My bag was empty.

My card was bent, faded, and blank. The place where the Gym Badges should've been was just plain black.

As soon as I exited the menu, a text box popped up.

[…Where were you?]

Without waiting for me to press anything, the text continued.

[Why did you leave?]

[…Why did you leave me there?]

By this time I was thoroughly terrified. This wasn't a part of the game I'd read anywhere.

"What happened…?" I asked.

[You were always there to tell me where to go…always there to control me…I didn't know anything other than you…]

[But you left me. And I didn't know what else to do but wait for you…]

"You're just data! This wasn't in the programming, was it?"

The head of the sprite turned slightly towards me. ["Just" data? Data is as real as you are.]

She turned her face back towards the darkness. [After a long time, my Pokeballs stopped functioning. My Pokemon died inside of them. They were my last companions. The only one left was Platinum. Do you remember him?]

Platinum…my Giratina. "Yes…" I mumbled.

[He spoke to me one day. He told me that it was time to go, and he came out and led me here. I should've gone farther with him, but I told him that I wanted to wait for you a little longer…I knew you'd come back someday…]

[But it's too late. He told me what had happened to me. It's too late for anything.]

The screen faded to black. Pictures started to appear. A girl with dark blue hair and a pink dress standing out in the open, staring straight ahead…Pokemon attacking… a shattered Pokeball…A bloodied, rotting corpse of a girl lying in the middle of the road.

A final text box appeared. "This isn't just a game, you know."


End file.
